My Life, One Instagram at a Time

Ladies and gents, I have a new toy and it's called a smart phone. Fine, I am many (many!) years late to the party but it's gleefully novel to me anyway - and Instagram tops the many delights that this new toy has afforded me. In my pre-smart phone days, whenever I saw or heard about Instagram, I secretly used to wonder people's dedicated commitment towards documenting the nitty-gritty of their lives through it, whether it was photographing their lunch or most recent shoe-purchase or dusk waves on a beach. Now, since I have joined the club (but of course;) I see it as a visual scrap-book, memorialising the random and elevating the mundane moments that constitute my days. It's bit akin to the manner in which I make notes in my journal; they can function as inspiration for a poem or a short story...or simply add shape and color to a day, rendering it memorable when it was otherwise destined to be forgotten. 

Here are the randoms and mundanes from my Instagram diary:

#colorcocktail

I dabble in oil-painting every now and then and here is a glimpse of the work while it was in progress; while I *think* it is now complete, I find myself suddenly subjecting it to an intense scrutiny and mentally re-painting it in entirely different set of strokes and colors. Sigh. If I take even half as long as I usually do when revising my writing, for instance, this painting will have undergone several more avatars by the time it can be called complete.

#subterranean/submarine

The first thing that pierced my mind upon seeing this piece of mineral art (it is no less than art, right?) was a phantom sea-urchin. While I enjoy seeing and wearing gems in their polished, soignee forms, their natural states are equally splendorous. I spotted this subterranean/submarine beauty at the Carnegie Natural History Museum's Gems and Minerals section.

#butterballwaffles

Food-grammers particularly bemused me: weren't you concerned about the dish getting cold or - disintegrating - or deflavoring in your quest to perfectly photograph its prettiness? Well, here I am with my maiden food-gram:) I had intense waffle cravings last week and just before I was about to indulge, I instinctively reached for my phone and captured its deliciousness. How could I not? The butter-ball is begging to be photographed!

#pineconenest

Many, many summers ago, during a trip to Germany, I discovered a baby, green pine-cone nestled at the foot of its parent tree; I secreted it away in my jacket pocket and carried it back with me to Oman, following which it proudly occupied a spot on my dressing table along with other bits and pieces that had caught my fancy at the time. Seeing this pine-cone made that baby green one come alive once again:)

#thingsthatfalloutofthesky

Sometimes, you idly look up and then, without looking down even once, whip out your phone and take a picture of whatever you are seeing, afraid that the moment will pass or that thing might just suddenly embrace gravity and avalanche down upon you, a ballistic blur of yellow-green-turquoise glass spaghetti. And then, you walk away, without looking back - or up.

Are you a regular Instagrammer or has the excitement long worn off?

PS This will be my last Instagram-related post (for a while!)